GuidetoResults-Based PlanningandFacilitation ...

1 Guid etoResults-B ase dPlanning and Facilita tion:Achieving Results and Equit yforVulner able Childre nand Yout hNATIONAL RESULTS & EQUITY COLLABORATIVEA bout NRECThe Na tional Re sult s an d Equ ity Collaborat ive is a new and game chan gi ng ap proachto ac -ce le rating positiv e an d eq uit ab le resu lt s for ch ild ren , yo ut h, fami li es and communitiesthr ou ghou tthe Un ited St at es .Iten ab lesnetwo rksoffund ers, te ch nic alas sistan ceproviders,intermediaryorganiz ati on s, publ ic and privat e civic and se rvice orga ni za tions, go vernmentan dot her s to wo rk toget her in gr eate r alignmentto help mo re vul nerableyoun g peop le succeedfro mbir th thr ough out adu lthoo rPur po seAs a ne wly for med volun ta ry organ izat ion, NREC aims to (1) ac celer at e po sitiv e resultsfor vuln er -abl echildr en throu gh out the count ry by crea ting anat ional net wo rk toalign results-basedTA, mea s-ur es, ef fect ive strate gies an d solut ion s acrossmultiplenat iona l and loc al initiatives.

2 And, and in sodo ing , (2) promot e con sist en cy an d greaterimpac t in the use of res ul ts-basedmethodologies atth efedera l, st ate and local levels. As these elementsare deve lop ed and tes ted ,the co lla bora tive wi llfu nc tion as an ope n sourcepee r netw ork, with ever expa nd ing circles of leaders tes ting and usingth is approachand sh ar ing wha t th ey are learningwit h a ne two rk of peers thr oughoutthe rGoalsBy wor king cl osely togetherand rec ognizingthat we are all in the sa meente rprise, NR EC promot esalignm ent on se vera l impor tan t dime nsion s of a results-basedapp roach, incl udi ng: A result s and ind icato rs fr amework that can serve as a commoncore to which communi ties an dinit iativ es ca n add their uniq ue ad dition al indica tors and/or language.

3 A shar ed co mmitm en t to buildin g co mmunity capacity,al lowi ng multi pl e ini tiativ es to gener ateevidenceabo ut how comm unit y cap acities cont ribute to resul ts; A willingness to shar e too ls and materials that supportstrategydevelopmentand on an eve r-incr easingkn owle dge base; and A wil lingne ss to us e a common resu lts and da ta ag gr egator to ol - the ResultsScoreca rd -as a comm on app roa ch and too l fo r capturingthe proc ess , be ginningwith an initial coho rt ofcomm unitie Guid e was cre ate d wit h the ge neroussupportof The Annie E. CaseyFoundation andis bas ed upon the pri nc ipl es of Re sults- BasedAccountabi lity , deve loped by Mark Fried -man, aut hor ofTr yin g Ha rd is Not Good Enough:How to ProduceMeasurableImprov ementsfor Custo me rs and Com mu nitie s (2 005).

4 1 Tab le of Cont entsOv ervie w and Pu rp ose .. 2 Intr oduct ion ..4 What is RBA ? ..4Ho w Does RBA Wor k? ..4 Why Use RBA? .. 5 Put ting the Key Prin cip les Int o Actio ..6 Maintain ing Lang ua ge ..6 Tool for Cre atin g a Common Lang ua ge .. 7 The Out line of Pla nning ..8 Leader ship an d Sta ke hold ers ..8 Basic Pro ce ss ..9St ep- By-St ep Plann ing Guid ance .. 11 Priorit ize Re sult s and In dicto rs .. 11 Graph Ea ch Prior itize d Indica tor .. 12 Hold A Com mu nity Co nve ning .. 12 Furthe r Re fine Action Plan .. 13 Leader ship Ap pr oval ..14 Implem ent ation , On- going Reviewand Refi .. 14Pr ocess Plann ingTo ols ..16 Tur n the Cu rve Th inking ..18 Perormance Me asur e De ve lopme nt for All ..22 Using the Re su lts Scor ecar d for Plan ning & Collabortion.

5 25 Facilit ation Tip s and Tric ks ..29 Cont act NR EC .. 36 Gui de to Re su lts -B as ed Plann ingan dFac ilitat ion :Achie vin gRes ults and Eq uity for Vul nerab le Chi ldr enand Yo uthNA TIO NAL RE SULTS AN D EQUITY COL LA BORA TIVEOv erv iew and Pu rpo seThi s gu ide is intendedto hel pleadersand comm unit ies achi ev eposi ti veand equitable resul tsfor childr en and youth. It exp lai ns how to use a prove n st ra te gic pl anningdiscipline-Results-Ba sed Accou nta bility (RB A) - to achievepopu lation lev el results . ny comm unitie s today are wor king to imp rove edu cat io n su cce ss and equit y for the mostvulner able ch ildr en, you th and fa milies. If they choosewrong st rat gei es , then it won t mat ter thosethings ar e do ne we ll. And if rig ht thing s are not done well, then it it won t matterif a communitypri oritiz es the right st rat eg ies.

6 Th is gu ide of fers le ad ers an d faci li ta to rs a framework- Results-Bas ed Accountability (R BA)2-toensure that co mmun ity chan ge eff orts are guide dby both doingthe right thin gs and doing tho se thin gs guide addr esses how to :1. select the be stst ra tegi es tomeasu rab ly impr ove an dsu sta in agiven co ndi tion of well-be ingfor a comm unity ( ,the per cen ta ge of chi ldren enteri ng schoolready to succeed),and22 For a comprehensiveexplan at ion of Re sult s-Ba sed Accou ntabi lity , readTryin g Hard is Not Goo d Enou gh,by Mark Friedmanand visit www. ragu Other strategicplann ing app roach es , su ch as Ou tco mes-Focused Strategic Pla nnin g (OF SP) an d Six Si gma mayalso be used and the too ls re fere nce d in this gu ide can al so accommodate OFSP ensur e ac coun ta bil ity fo r eac h st rategy , activ ity and partner by meas uring the impact ofho w each con tribu tes to achie ving the intendedresul is a disciplined app roach to decisionmakingthat, in the spi ri t of Lisbe th Sch orr s exhort ation ,fo ster sa cle ar an dunrelentingfoc us on resu lts.

7 This guide offe rslea dersan dfaci litatorsat all lev-els aframework and tool sto co nduc tco llaborative,rigorous,da ta- dr iven deci sion ma king ,wh eth erdeve lop ing and imp leme nt ing a co mm unity-wideinitiativeor managingthe small est programoract ivit uses a decisionma king pro cess, knownas Turn-the-Cur ve Thinking. It beginsby iden tify -ing a clear end re sult , uses data disp layed graphicallyas a trend line (or curve )to gauge the ex -te nt towhichth at resu lt is beingachi eved, and works back wards,syst ema tically and transparently,to determ ine the be st ways to ach iev e the EC 's membersare comm itted to buildinggre at eralignment inth efram eworks and data sy stem sth at nationalinterm edia ries an d fun de rs us e in th eir work wit h comm unit ies.

8 FoundingNREC pa rt-ne rs ar e usi ng RBA and th e Re sult s Scor ecard, the soft ware that supports the use of RBA , as twove hicles for bui ldi ng such co nsist enc de to Re su lts -B as ed Plann ingan dFac ilitat ion :Achie vin gRes ults and Eq uity for Vul nerab le Chi ldr enand Yo uthNA TIO NAL RE SULTS AN D EQUITY COL LA BORA TIVEI ntroductionWh at is Result s-Based Acco untability ?Result s-B ase d Accou nt ability is a discipli ned way of thinkingand taking act ion in commu-nit ies toimpr ov ethe live sof childr en, fam ilie s, and com mun ity as awh ol e. RBA is also usedby fun ders , gov ern men t an d community leadersto improv e the perf or manceof pro gr amsthat cont ribut e to popu latio n-lev el resu wdoe sRBA work?RB A star ts by identif yin g th e end re sults or desiredcommunity condit ions and works backwards,st ep by st ep, to ide nt ify suc cess stra teg ies, policies and pro gr ams.

9 For com munities,th e end s areco nditions of wel l-be ing for childrenand r example:Fami lie s are str ong and supp ortive,chi ldre n ar e rea di ng on gra de lev el or childrenare healthy, sa fe an d developing on track. Forpr ogr am s, the end s are ho w cu sto me rs or participants are be tt er of f when the programworks thewa y it should . For ex ampl e:The per centageof youngchildrenin HeadStartprogramswhoarerea dy fo r schoo yuse RBA?RBA impro ves the liv es of chi ldren , familiesandcom munit ies and the pe rfo rman ce of programsbe -cause it helps: Mov e fr om ta lk to act ion quic kly; All st ake hold ers und erst and str ate gi c planning; Surfac ean dcha llenge assumptionsthat can bebar riers to innova tio n; Build colla bora tion and co nsen sus; and Use dat a and tra nspa re ncy to ensu re account -ability for both the well-b ein g of ch il dre n,fam ilies and communit ies an d the perfor manceof cont ribu tin g program s or activit ies.

10 Gui de to Re su lts -B as ed Plann ingan dFac ilitat ion :Achie vin gRes ults and Eq uity for Vul nerab le Chi ldr enand Yo uthKey RB APrinciples1. Ma inta in lan guage discip line2. Sta rt wi th th e desire d resu lt orou tco me and work backwa rd s tose lect stra te gies3. Ide nti fy th e appro priate lev el ofacco untabi lity:a. Po pulatio n or Co mmu nityAccou ntabilityb. Perfo rma nce , Pa rtn er orPro gra m Accou nta bility4. Ide nti fy th e mo st powerfu l he ad-lin e perfo rma nce me asu res fo rea ch of th e th re e typ es of per-fo rma nce me asure s:a. How mu ch do yo u do?b. Ho w well do yo u do it?c. Is anyo ne bette r off ?5. Get fro m Talk to Actio n usi ng th esev en questi on Tu rn the Curv e pro ce TIO NAL RE SULTS AN D EQUITY COL LA BORA TIVEPu tting the Key Pri nc iple sInto ActionMainta in La nguage Discip lineOne of the fir st ste ps is deve lopin g a sharedaccountability s like out comes,be nchm ar ks, in dica to rs, an d re sult s are ofte n use d interc hange ably and wi thout cleardef initio ns.